Nutritional & biomedical support for children with autism

Autism Nutrition aims to be the resource website for parents of autistic children, as well as doctors and health care professionals, who wish to learn more about diet, nutrition, nutritional supplements and other factors that can reverse or at least mitigate the onset of autism.

The guiding philosophy of Autism Nutrition is the biomedical approach to autism. Spearheaded by the late Dr. Bernard Rimland of the Autism Research Institute (ARI), this approach is based on the latest scientific research that shows autism to have at least some biological causes – such as heavy metal poisoning, yeast infection,food sensitivity, nutritional deficiency, etc.

This new understanding has brought new hope to autistic individuals and their families, including shattering the myth that autism is due to poor mothering.

Dr. Bernard Rimland has demonstrated that autism can be treated. Some children with autism have recovered fully while many others have made significant progress. The Autism Research Institute (ARI) has video clips of recovered children with autism.

Autism Nutrition will examine topics related to diet and nutritional support for autism, including:

Food sensitivity / GFCF Diet: Autistic children tend to have problems with digestion, including food sensitivity – particularly to casein and gluten in dairy and wheat products. Autism Nutrition will thus examine how a GFCF Diet — that is, casein-free, gluten free diet — can help children with autism.

Yeast infection / Probiotics: In addition, autistic children commonly suffer from yeast infection (candida) and other bacteria overgrowth in their intestines. This could arise from the excessive use of antibiotics — by children as well as their parents.Probiotics can play a helpful role role here and we offer an excellent range of high potency and ultra high potency probiotics.

Toxic heavy metals: Analysis of the hair, urine and excrement of autistic children often reveal significantly higher levels of toxic heavy metals like lead, arsenic and particularly mercury.Mercury exposure could arise from vaccinations (that use mercury as a preservative), dental fillings and excessive consumption of fish and seafood from polluted waters containing mercury.Autism Nutrition will discuss the safety of eating fish and seafood and we also offer some excellent products to help the body chelate toxic heavy metals safely and effectively.

Minerals: Autistic children tend to be deficient in minerals such as sulfur, zinc, magnesium, iodine, lithium and potassium. Autism Nutrition looks at which foods are rich in these minerals and discuss the importance of eating organic foods as much as possible.Click here to read about our excellent multi-vitamin, multi-mineral and animo acid nutritional supplement, Formula ONE.

Pesticides: Environmental toxins and other unknown environmental factors are also believed to contribute to autism and other behavioral problems. Again, the use of natural and organic foods are important here.

Nutrition in this website is taken in its broadest sense. It does not just refer to the science of nutrition but also to traditional diets and other dietary systems — such as macrobiotics — which can be helpful for children with autism.

These may not be totally scientific simply because not a lot of scientific studies had been done, although bits and pieces of scientific evidence are beginning to support the wisdom of traditional dietary systems. Autism Nutrition will thus discuss the roles of these dietary systems and philosophies as well.

Autism Nutrition will also look beyond diet and nutrition and examine a wide range of other therapies, treatments and useful products that can help autistic children get better and, if possible, recover fully. These include:

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: HBOT has produced remarkable results in supplying more oxygen-rich blood to the cells, including the brain cells. And this has led to vast improvements in the behavior of autistic kids.

Neurofeedback: Neurofeedback training, which involves the use of computer games to balance brain wave patterns, has also produced some remarkable results, for example in reducing stimming behavior in autistic children.

Homeopathy: Homeopathy is a safe and natural form of medical care that can help children with autism in several ways, both directly as well as indirectly — such as by the use of homeopathic chelating agents that help the body remove toxic heavy metals.

Finally, Autism Nutrition is not just about autism, but also about similar mental, developmental and behavioral conditions such as ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dyslexia, cerebral palsy and others. Even “normal” healthy children and adults will benefit from improving their diets, taking high quality nutritional supplements and utilizing therapies such as HBOT, neurofeedback and homeopathy.